Next Up: Indians vs. Twins at Progressive Field
August 7, 2015Joe Thomas: Johnny Manziel has proved “he’s ready to be an NFL starting quarterback”
August 8, 2015While the 2015 Cleveland Indians season has been absolutely disappointing, Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti apparently have used such frustrations as an impetus to start an overhaul on the team. The infrastructure rebuild started before the MLB trade deadline when David Murphy and Marc Rzepczynski were shipped off to contenders for prospects.
However, such trades were merely appetizers when compared with today’s post-waiver trade announcement that the Indians would be offloading the contracts of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn onto the Atlanta Braves (along with cash considerations) for infielder Chris Johnson.
Weâve acquired INF Chris Johnson from ATL for Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn & cash.
More soon: http://t.co/jwr0rBKYM5 pic.twitter.com/alkilMKjVv
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 7, 2015
Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn were signed before the 2013 season to help facilitate the Indians rise back into contention status. Most saw the signings as positive steps at the time though many understood the dangers of signing older free agents to big deals.
In 2013, the players were both positive factors that helped the team to the fourth best record in the AL though they wound up losing the play-in Wild Card game to the Tampa Bay Rays. Since that season, however, both players have cycled between being injured and under-performing leaving many fans to retroactively wish the contracts were never signed.
On Friday, any worries about those contracts being an albatross around the Indians future were dissipated as the Atlanta Braves assumed responsibility though the amount of cash the Indians are giving the Braves is yet unknown. However, Mark Bowman suggests that the teams will attempt to make the net effect of cash even.
Chris Johnson is owed approximately $19M through the end of the 2017 season. The cash swap will essentially create an equal $ exchange
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 7, 2015
Nick Swisher is still owed $15 million in 2016 and has a 2017 team option for $14 million that becomes guaranteed if he receives 550 plate appearances during the 2016 MLB season. In addition, he still has the pro-rated portion of his 2015 $15 million salary. Due to injuries in both of his knees, Nick Swisher has played in a mere 127 games the past two seasons, and he has not done well in them. His .206/.274/.323 slash line (67 OPS+) demonstrates his lack of contributions well.
Indians OF Nick Swisher discusses the trade from Cleveland to Atlanta. #Indians #Braves pic.twitter.com/enIL5sjOZG
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) August 7, 2015
Michael Bourn is still owed $14 million in 2016 and has a 2017 team option for $12 million that becomes guaranteed if he receives 550 plate appearances during the 2016 MLB season. In addition, he still has the pro-rated portion of his 2015 $13.5 million salary. Bourn has been playing better in recent weeks, but his time in Cleveland has not lived up to his previous playing days for the Atlanta Braves. And, his overall 2015 numbers are still a poor .246/.313/.294 (70 OPS+).
Indians OF Michael Bourn discusses his trade to the Atlanta Braves. #Indians #Braves pic.twitter.com/Lnpgn4QH8L
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) August 7, 2015
In contrast, Chris Johnson is owed $7.5 million in 2016, $9 million in 2017, and has a $1 million buyout on a $10 million team option for the 2018 season. In addition, he still has the pro-rated portion of his 2015 $6 million salary1 . Johnson is just two years removed from his .321/.358/.457 (124 OPS+) monster season, but he declined in 2014 and has been even worse this season. In 2015, Chris Johnson has career-worst numbers nearly across the board attributing to his .235/.272/.320 (65 OPS+) slash line in a limited role.
Johnson’s overall contract basically offsets Nick Swisher’s contract, but Chris Johnson is still a playable defender, younger (30 years old), and the money is spread out over multiple seasons. If the Indians are to make the net effect of the contracts even, then they will need to ship about $19.5 million dollars2 to the Atlanta Braves (assuming the teams do not expect any of the options to be picked up).
Perhaps Braves president of baseball operations John Hart sees a resurgence in Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn that Chris Antonetti, Mark Shapiro, and the rest of the Indians front office do not. But, hopefully, this is a trade that will help both ballclubs, and perhaps the change of scenery is what each of the three players needed at this time in their careers.
All stats per Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted
47 Comments
I don’t care if we acquired the frozen corpse of Walt Disney in return. Oh sweet joyous day!
Is Johnson going to play 1st Base?
He can when Santana plays DH. And, his mid 60s OPS+ will fit right in with the rest of the bottom third of the lineup.
WFNY Jacob described it best. Atlanta has a new ballpark opening in 2017, so they want more money for new payroll in that season even if they have to pay more upfront in 2016. Indians would prefer to push some payroll out a year.
Net sum is the same for both. Swisher’s knees likely mitigate return on him, but you could argue for Bourn or Chris Johnson having the better chance at returning closest to their former selfs. So, it’s a trade of them for even money, paid when their teams want to pay it out, and Atlanta gets Swish as a maybe pinch-hit bat on their bench.
Wow! Did not see that coming. Good riddance.
And good job by Antonetti to find someone to take these stiffs. Reminiscent of the way the Cavs were able to unload dead-weight Shawn Kemp back in the day.
I see nothing but good things for a guy who is in a 2-year long decline coming to a team that can’t hit and can’t help guys hit. Good things. Good things.
I can sort of see how this got done. Johnson wasn’t happy with the team and the team wasn’t happy with him, and they were having trouble trading his contract given it’s his second year of decline. Bourn is probably popular with ATL fans, and he’s serviceable defensively, and they figured it’s better to have him than Johnson. Swisher, they hope maybe comes back with healthy knees and gives them a good year. The money ends up mostly a wash, so why not? The Indians get better flexibility to take advantage of their superior starting pitchers over the next couple of years by spreading the money out, but there are other benefits. Johnson could rebound in a less toxic situation, and even if he only bounces back to average his contract is easier to move than either Bourn’s or Swishers. Johnson could find himself on the move again at some point.
Great! Just having the two roster spots open for next season is a blessing. I guess it’s only one when you consider Chris Johnson will be taking up one of those spots, but it opens up some very valuable real estate on the 25-man roster. Swisher was a part-time DH at best and Bourn was an albatross in the lineup so being able to replace them with either young players (Ramsey, Aguilar, Naquin, Holt, etc.) or free agents and/or trade targets will be a net gain any way you slice it.
And the fact we can divide Johnson’s money between 2016 and 2017 gives us instant flexibility this offseason. 2016 was going to be a crucial year as far as our “window” goes so it will be nice to have that extra $7M (Swisher’s 2016 salary minus Johnson’s 2016 salary) to spend. And come 2017, we were going to have a lot of salary relief then anyway with Swish and Bourn going away, so the $9M Johnson makes then will be much easier to swallow.
Yeah, we’re almost certainly not going to save any money by the end of things. We just no longer have to concern ourselves as to whether Bourn or Swisher will play above replacement level again.
We can divide Johnson’s money however we want, but the $10M they’re sending out today is going to cut into that flexibility this offseason.
That makes sense generally about them gearing up for 2017…good point.
But no way it’s even money. Swish and Bourn get $29M next year guaranteed (and options in 2017 for plate appearances that they’ll never be allowed to reach).
We are on the hook for $7.5 next year, plus $9M in ’17 (plus $1M buyout), so net $12.5M savings at least.
PLUS secondary markets: a $9M Johnson next year is conceivably tradeable mid-year, further recouping precious Dolanz Dollarz ™. As for Swisher & Bourn…a lot tougher to find another suitor.
Almost all the savings will come from salary paid this year, up to $9M. And that’s if it’s exactly a $10M payout, and not the “more than $10M” that Passan is reporting.
We’re on the hook for $17.5M of Johnson, plus $10M in the cash we’re paying Atlanta. That totals $1.5M less than Swisher/Bourn’s guarantees past this year.
We could be saving money, but I highly doubt that the Braves are paying $9M for the right to test their patience on those two, and there’s more details to be unveiled.
no official word on the money the Indians are paying though. they could be paying the full $19.5mil as Bowman suggests.
yeah, if we do save close to $10mil overall while not giving up a prospect, then we might want to check to see if John Hart lost a bet.
Do we know that’s the number yet? Looking at the numbers, I wonder if they might just be offsetting the difference in the prorated 2015 salaries, or maybe that plus a certain amount of the Bourn/Swisher salaries for next year. If so, they could actually be saving quite a bit for next season, and at least a little for the following season. I can’t imagine they’d do it if it didn’t enhance financial flexibility. If it’s a true wash monetarily I’m iffy on preferring the 2016 Johnson lottery ticket over the 2016 Swisher lottery ticket.
no one knows the number yet.
The greatest Cleveland dumpster-dump-and-run since Jim Paxson hypnotized Portland into taking Shawn Kemp, his extra poundage and bloated contract.
My respect for Antonetti ticks up a smidge. But only that, since he’s just undoing his own signature FA moves. And the sunk money which could have been spent on players who make a diff is long gone, just like these last two lost seasons.
The prorated difference is about $9M this year. The difference in contracts after this year is $11.5. $10M fits nicely between, but still seems like an odd number to chose. I can’t help but believe there’s something still unreported.
If he has a photo of himself in a Cleveland Indians uniform from ages 3-7, I suggest he post it online immediately.
Ah, wait. Here we go. This is why the Indians wanted Chris Johnson despite his struggles. Remember how much Tito loves platoons?
Swisher vs. LHP last year: 168/274/208/481
Bourn vs. LHP this year: 235/312/294/606
Johnson vs. LHP this year: 323/344/403/747
And last year: (bigger sample) 395/435/553/988
That’s right. The last time Chris Johnson got more than 400 PA’s in a season, he crushed lefties to the tune of a .988 OPS. Now, he happens to also have an OPS below .500 this year against righties, but Tito loves him some half-a-player. For whatever reason the Braves didn’t seem to want to use him exclusively against LHP, but he’ll be trotted out there against every single one on this team. He may be over priced, but at least he’ll be valuable in a specific role, as opposed to Swisher being broken down in general, and Bourn being slightly below mediocre against all pitchers.
Interestingly, the Indians have actually hit better against lefties this year than righties due to some platoon anomalies. (Despite being a R/L pair, both Raburn and Murphy were much better against lefties, and Moss was better against them too) However, Johnson will fill a role, and I’d imagine they’ll look for a value in FA on somebody who can be the other half of that platoon split, even if at a different position.
THANK U JON FRICKIN HART!!!
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/pnda.gif
Hey don’t ruin a glorious sunny Friday with facts!
LoL oh yes great job Antonetti I’m sure Shapiro couldn’t have told Larry Dolan better! That was right before the Cavs went on their title run, uh, wait…
Progressive Field will be sold out this weekend now for sure!!!
If a lefty is pitching, you should definitely buy tickets. đ
Who cares it’s worth it to see Tyler Holt in the OF at Progressive Field! Naquin get ready baby you are next.
Buy tickets LooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooL someone started their happy hour!
antonetti and shapiro should still be shown the door for these $30m a year mistakes. you cannot make those types/sized mistakes as a small market.
Don’t worry it will be a long time before they ever spend on a free agent again!
I want to see Almonte and I think Naquin is still on the DL from when he Kamikazi’d the wall. That’s right, a ML-2 reference!
I’ll take an Indians hat someone handed him 15min ago.
yeah, it’s weird if Atlanta just handed us $10mil and a roster spot.
Are you trying to be incoherent, or does it just come naturally?
Both!
Who’s Almonte?
Addition by subtraction
-2 sucks
+1 suck
= -1 suck
So it comes naturally. Just as I suspected.
Keep it up gramps and I’ll tamper with the tennis balls on your walker!
I just hope they demote Cody Anderson soon.
Guy we got for Scrabble
Woo hoo!
good breakdown. I’m so sick of the Tribe hoping guys rebound. don’t sign anyone next year and instead sign a big player in 2 years with the extra $10 million.
forget about the money, i’m in favor of anything that opens up space for the kids to play. Let’s see some of these highly touted players from the farm.
Ha ha, I just saw a headline on a news site about the trade that read, “Braves Get OFers,” OFers evidently meaning outfielders. But I read it as o-fers, as in 0 fer 4.
The most highly touted kids aren’t quite ready yet, but I agree anyway.
The problem with this strategy is, as always for smaller market in MLB, the bigger markets are in on the bigger guys, and will always be able to outbid the Indians. Justin Upton is a great fit for the Tribe, and they probably have the money now to go give him a good offer. Except a NY, Chicago, LA, Boston could easily top that offer by $10M.
And now we’re paying $15M instead of $10M. So we saved all of $4M. We can sign an Aviles, Raburn, or most of a Murphy. I hope the fans are happy enough to not have to see Bourn and Swisher, because we aren’t any better off.